As the temperature rises in the summer, people turn to a host of things to quench their thirst and cool the heat. Nutritionist Elizabeth Somer has some frozen treats that will bring on the chill without melting your diet.

What’s summer without ice cream?! Obviously not much, considering that each of us downs about 23 pounds of ice cream a year! Reach for Ben & Jerry’s New York SuperFudge Chunk or Haagen-Dazs Cookie Dough ice cream — with more than 300 calories, up to 58% fat, and three teaspoons of artery-clogging saturated fat — and you are likely to be spilling out of the cute little swimsuit and into a cardiac arrest.

You needn’t let that sweet tooth and craving for something cold and sweet undermine your waistline and your health. Not when there are so many good options on the market.

1. Is choosing a tasty, low-cal ice cream as simple as just heading for the ones with “low-fat” and “reduced carbs” on the label? 
There is no legal definition of “reduced carb” or “net carb,” although these terms are used frequently on frozen desserts. Typically, the product has used sugar alcohols to replace some of the sugar. Watch out for these, however, since eat too much and they can have a laxative effect. Also, some of these brands are swimming in fat. Breyer’s Carb Smart Rocky Road, for example, is 69% fat calories, with more than a teaspoon of bad fat per ½ cup serving.

Low-fat ice cream is required by law to contain no more than 3 grams total of fat in a half cup serving. Nonfat ice cream must contain less than 0.5 grams of total fat. “Light” ice cream must contain at least 50% less fat or 33% fewer calories than regular ice cream.

Some are good, some are calorie nightmares. For example, Skinny Cow’s Low-Fat Fudge bar has only 100 calories, while Haagen-Dazs Extra-Rich Light Vanilla Bean Flavor has 2.5 times the calories and eight times the fat. Breyer’s Free, Fat-Free Creamy Vanilla has even fewer calories, or 90 calories and no fat. The bottom line is you must read labels and not trust the front of the package!

2. Is frozen yogurt a better bet?
Not always. Ben & Jerry’s Lighten Up! Chocolate Fudge Brownie made with low-fat yogurt is lower in calories and fat than their plain Chocolate Fudge Brownie, but still has 170 calories per half cup and almost 6 teaspoons of sugar. Read labels and look for a frozen yogurt product that has no more than 150 calories per ½ cup serving and 2 grams of fat. Examples of frozen yogurts that meet this limit: Dreyer’s Fat-free Frozen (90 cal/0 fat) and TCBYs’ Fat-free yogurts (110 calories/0 fat). TCBY’s Low-fat frozen yogurts meet the calorie allotment (140 cal), but have a little too much fat (3 grams).

3. When it comes to sugar, are all ice creams the same?
Sugar content ranges from 4 to 30 grams per half cup serving. There are 4 grams per teaspoon, so that means from about 1 to 8 teaspoons a serving. Labels don’t tell you how much sugar comes from fruit and how much comes from plain old sugar so, for example, Haagen Dazs fat-free Raspberry Sorbet has almost 7 tsp of sugar, but most of it comes from real fruit, while Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Fudge Brownie has the same amount of sugar and almost all of it comes from added sugars. The most important factor really is calories (and saturated fat), so look for desserts with the best taste that fall below 150 calories/half cup. For that allotment, you’ll find products with as low as 4 grams (1 teaspoon) in Breyer’s Carb Smart Rocky Road to as high as 25 grams in that Fudge Brownie ice cream.

4. Do these desserts taste as good as homemade?
Yes and no. Many of these products use a mix of gums and stabilizers and ways to manipulate the fat, air and protein, to produce a product that is similar in taste and texture to that creamy texture we love so much in real ice cream. These tricks work to some degree, but seldom do they produce the same rich creaminess of the real thing. Since our tastebuds are disappointed, it is easy to eat more, consume the same or even more calories, and walk away unsatisfied.

However, there are a few exceptions to this rule. For example, Haagen Dazs Fat-Free Raspberry Sorbet, especially if you top it with fresh berries, is a refreshing tasty dessert at 120 calories. It even supplies a bit of fiber. But, if you’re looking for chocolate, it has been very difficult to get a fat-free item to taste like the real thing. That is until recently.

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